Never see yourself as a failure — Evelyn Ohanwusi

Evelyn Ohanwusi, 27, is the Interim Head, Youth in Agribusiness Office at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. She speaks about her career

What is your educational background?

I have a bachelor’s degree in quantity surveying from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I am currently studying for an MBA in Agribusiness at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

What is your current position?

I am currently the Interim Head of Youth in Agribusiness office at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria. I occupy the position as the first young female international recruited staff of the unit.

What is your work description?

My job description is quite interesting because it encompasses all That has to do with how to attract and sustain youths in agriculture. One of the ways of achieving this is by creating a platform for a change in their perspective about agriculture through capacity development and mentoring, sustaining their interest through project proposal development for securing funds for the establishment of independent agribusiness enterprises, engaging in advocacy and policy development that will help create a favourable operational environment for youth in agribusiness, fostering partnerships with the public and private sectors that will pave way for youths especially in accessing funds for start-ups either as loans or grants.

Can you tell us about the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Youth Agripreneurs and how it operates?

The IITA Agripreneur initiative is a youth in agribusiness model that was established to address the issue of widespread youth unemployment and to provide a platform that propels youths toward self-employment in agriculture. The issue of unemployment is a major issue among African countries because youths, who constitute the largest population segment feel marginalised from the economic mainstream and despite their best efforts, find little means to meet their expectations for a better life.

IITA devised an innovative solution to tackle this by gathering youths at its headquarters in Ibadan, in August 2012 under the leadership of its Director General, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga and established pioneering agribusiness incubation.

How did IITA recruit youths to kick off the programme?

Forty youths were selected from intern applicants from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. Rather than assign them to different IITA departments, they were provided a common workspace and asked to develop enterprises built upon proven IITA agricultural technologies. They were offered some basic coaching, but mostly they were left to themselves to implement pilot agribusiness enterprises.

Training and mentorship further alerted them to business opportunities along several agricultural value chains. They were uncertain how to move forward at first, but those remaining were provided technical expertise as needed and access to IITA farm resources. Within a year, the youths were managing several enterprises built around cassava, maize, soybean, banana, vegetables, fish and swine. They also identified opportunities in value addition and ventured into the food processing and started producing and packaging a snack known as ‘Tidbit Delight’ which is a composition of cassava flour and cowpea. They also produced soymilk from soybean and smoked catfish using the smoking kiln.

Development interests deservedly started to take note of this success and provided some additional modest support for their expansion. By this time, the group were known as Agripreneurs, and this support allowed them to formalise their operations and expand into new parts of Nigeria.They also began to partner with the public and private sector to offer training and consultancy services to youth and farmers.

Is the programme limited to only corps members?

Initially, when we started, it was through the National Youth Service Corps scheme which is prominent in Nigeria. Any graduate posted to IITA to undertake the scheme is given an opportunity to join IYA. But as the group evolved over the years, we had lots of requests from people seeking to join, so we developed a selection criteria and mechanism to select the trainees, they are recruited professionally by undergoing screenings like exams, oral interviews and tests. The selected trainees are further required to undergo another screening for a period of three months after which they will be inducted into the incubation programme.

How did you become interested in agric?

I was posted to IITA for my service year at the time when the youth programme was birthed by the Director General of IITA- Dr. Sanginga. Immediately I got there, I developed a different passion for agriculture. Agriculture became more fascinating to me. IITA changed my perception about agriculture. I saw how agriculture can be practised in a modernised way without necessarily using hoes and cutlasses. Back then, I will sneak from my duty post to the field to see some of the field workers and assist them. So an opportunity came for me to be trained on agribusiness. IITA gathered young graduates like me and trained us on how we could create a viable business out of agriculture. The organisation taught me how I could invest one dollar and make an additional dollar and some cents and through this, create employment for other young people like me. I saw how agriculture could be practised on a large scale without hassles. And so far, it has been so good. I took the risk to join the programme and the risk has been worth it.

You were also a panelist at the African Development Bank Annual General meeting in India…

It is one of the experiences I will never forget. I have been part of many panels, I have spoken at many conferences but seeing a platform dedicated to issues of youth in agribusiness at such an international level has triggered another cause in me. It was good to see organisations like the African Development Bank give us a voice at such an event where we had stakeholders and policymakers.

This means that the youth who have embraced agriculture are on the right path. It means there is hope for Africa in the area of food production and security, it means Africa can feed itself again and poverty and hunger will not be a comparative advantage of Africa, it means job creation for the African youth and a total revamp of the agricultural sector in Africa. Above all, it means Africa will no longer be labelled a major importer of food but rather a giant exporter of food to other continents of the world.

What attitude should youths have towards work?

Youths should be selfless, they must have integrity and exhibit a lot of passion in whatever they do.

How would you encourage youths who what to be successful in their various careers?

Like I said earlier, youths should never see themselves as a failure. They should be truthful at all times and not get carried away by money.

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How about NSA himself jetting down to Washington and get trained on how not to sit on his a*s for 3 weeks after abduction of over 200 kids ?

By the way, Mr. NSA what happened to that fake drone your army said they designed and built and Dumbo Jo commissioned in Kaduna last December? Why is it not being used to track Boko Haram or was it the usual trick to fo0l Dumbo ?

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